Empathy
You walk into the event with your arms full of children. Your hands are sticky from a morning of half eaten honey toast, your head aching from occasional shrieks of joy, and freq
uent cries of dismay. The flurry and push to get out the door to something the kids want to go to astounds you every time. Can't they just put their shoes on and go? Your heart is beating a lot faster on a Saturday morning than it seems like it should. You're tired and it's the weekend, you wonder if you are a terrible person for preferring your more orderly and quiet weekday of adult time to the chaos and non-linear logic of small children.
You take a breath once you arrive at the Jeff and Paige concert and you look up, to meet the eyes of a friend, or a perfect stranger who knows exactly what you are feeling. And suddenly it all feels okay.
Community
The kids slowly acclimate to the new surroundings, some stick close at first, other run right into the fray. Jeff and Paige are there, the stage is ready for a performance, Jeff is doing something silly, Paige smiles big and wide at any kids or parents who want to interact. Kids are clad in colorful rainbows and animal t-shirts. The showstarts a little after the hour, Jeff and Paige know parents are not in control of being on time.
Care-Givers of small children tend to be some of the most under resourced and overwhelmed parts of the adult population. Especially for those of us who live far away from family support we literally do it all. The isolation (especially of the last two years) for those of us with children under 10 has been excruciating. When we gather in community, especially in a community of people who are going through similar moments of challenge and joy we feel less alone. A short uninterrupted conversation with another grown up, a new friendship that starts because your kids play together on the dance floor, a recognizable population of other people who are "in the same boat" and who can feel what you feel, and know what you know. It's hard to quantify what community gives and does for our social animal souls but it's big and its important. Community experiences remind us we are not alone, that we are a part of a fabric of humanity and that our experiences within this life, are not in vein. When we are feeling joy, we bring that to our experiences, and when we are feeling sadness, pain, grief, we can be uplifted in a community space.
A Connection to Something Larger...
The concert is starting. Jeff and Paige have the kids attention. You look at your children in the audience and feel a surge of gratitude that they are looking at another adult that isn't you. Jeff and Paige carefully and consciously hold the attention of the children through nature and science information, interactive dancing and movement, and silly skits and costumes that surprise and delight. You find yourself laughing with the kids, and maybe even learning something new about an animal or ecological process that is right outside your front door.
At Jeff and Paige concerts we want to provide you with a break and a chance to connect with other adults, yes, but we also want to connect you and your kids with something larger than yourselves. Nature and science are a perfect gateway into connecting as a family. You may get inspiration to add more outdoor explorations to your daily routines (with buy in from the kids because they saw it at a show!). To do nature and science experiments at home through our membership. You may get a specific tool or connection to a community partner for sustainable living, like Oatis Oatmilk, and add this plant-based regenerative crop to your weekly groceries (they actually deliver right to your door).
The community created at a Jeff and Paige show is one that is grounded in living mindfully and sustainably and it's not passive, it's active! Jeff and Paige are actively partnering with organizations and groups that will give you the tools and skills to thrive as a family that thrives in a sustainable lifestyle.
Joy
Jeff and Paige are a few songs in, and you can't help it, between snippets of conversation with other grown ups and watching to make sure the kids are safe, you find yourself chanting and marching... Oh ah ah Oh Oh ah ah I'm hiking! You might be one of the adults that stands up and dances with wild abandon to the honey bee dance, you probably laugh hard at a mishap on stage when Jeff stumbles or Paige can't get a costume on fast enough. The kids are happy, you are happy, you look around and have a moment of joy. Deep satisfying joy that is shared with other people in community. And this magnifies the experience and reminds you that there is life outside of parenthood. You are not alone, you are a full connected human being spinning on earth with many others.
Environmental awareness and sustainable living tips can get heavy. But here at Jeff and Paige, that's not how we feel about it. We don't need to spend a lot of time wrapping you up into a cycle of despair and confusion about what you are doing here on planet earth. What we do is bring you the solutions, the smiles, and the community with which to creat
e a new and more resilient future, scratch that present. And that, is our definition of joy. Taking these moments of connection, play, and curiosity about what is
happening in the natural world and turning them into new ways of living and being is the next step in parenting, and the next step in our adaptation to climate change. How can I be writing about climate change in the joy section!? Well, how else are we going to get there? Putting our heads down and crying about not being able to do anything? Getting so angry we can't move? Looking at our kids and wondering if we've made a mistake even bringing them onto this sinking ship? Excuse my language, but hell no.
We're going to show them through our very own actions, and passions, and love and dedication to living how to do this thing differently together. When you become a Jeff and Paige fan you get so much more than a concert, you get: The seeds that plant the roots for a new way of living. A connection to the tools and people who will get us there. And support for navigating the sometimes overwhelming journey of raising children.
See a full schedule of our upcoming shows on our events calendar.
To take your fan-dom to the next level, become a member.
